His topic: "The Phylogeny of Pterostichine Carabid Beetles and the Diversification of Continental Island Faunas." His lecture is the last in a series of 10 winter seminars sponsored by the UC Davis Department of Entomology. It's free and open to the public. The host is UC Davis doctoral candidate Rebekah O'Flaherty, known for coining Maggot Art.

At a recent seminar at Oregon State University, the scientist said: "Since the rise of Adephaga 240 million years ago, carabid beetles have crept, wedged, scurried, stank and even exploded their way to evolutionary success. Often lumped into a single pile as generalists predators, the family actually includes vegans and vampires, cannibals and caregivers and more."

Will kindly provided us with a photo of Pterostichus lama, which he describes as "the largest carabid beetle in California and as big as any in North America." It has no common name, he said.

This image was taken by one of his students, Ainsley Seago. It also graces Will's lab Web site.

Carabid beetle

This is a photo of Pterostichus lama, which UC Berkeley scientist Kipling "Kip" Will describes as "the largest carabid beetle in California and as big as any in North America." It was taken by one of his students, Ainsley Seago.